Our CPD Programme is now publishing written reports from Contemporary Art Society Study Days and Conferences. Summarising the most salient issues of the day, this material is hopefully a useful research tool for the participants as well as others who could attend the event.
Hosting Artists Museums Residencies on 26 May 2022
Held in the project space of Delfina Foundation on 26 May 2022, the CPD Hosting Artists
2: Radical Residencies seminar convened art professionals from major museums across
the UK to discuss the different ways institutions and artists interact through residencies.
Study Day: Curating and Installing Digital Art
Held at The Cello Factory on 1 November 2019
This study day explored how institutions can adapt to the challenges of curating and installing art created with the latest technology, including Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality, AI & Generative Art, as well as 3D Sculptural & Interactive Art. Held in collaboration with Lumen Art Projects.
Frieze Curatorial Summit: It Belongs to Me! Curation, Censorship and the Resurgent Far Right
Held at Frieze Art Fair on 3 October 2019
This year’s CAS/Frieze Curatorial Summit looked at the resurgence of populism and the far-right, which echoes the days when the School of Bauhaus closed due to mounting pressure from the Nazi regime. Moderated by artist Liam Gillick, a group of international speakers discussed the situation in countries including Brazil, Turkey and Germany and how institutions can respond to the current climate. An audio recording of the talk can be found here.
CAS Annual Conference 2019: Re‐Writing the Canon?
Held at The Courtauld Institute of Art on 14 May 2019
In recent decades, notions of a fixed “canon”, or a single narrative in modern and contemporary art has come under question from all sides. How can museums keep pace and respond to these new imperatives? What happens when ‘the grand narratives’ are no longer considered fit for purpose? How are collections, exhibitions and displays to be rethought – according to what criteria, and for whom? A film of the day can be found here.
Study Day: Strategies of Digital Curating
Held at the Science Museum, London on 8 March 2019
Held in collaboration with Serpentine Galleries, this seminar explored the different roles that the ‘digital’ holds within institutions and the new sets of skills required by curators beyond technical expertise and curatorial knowledge.
CPD Study Day: Curating Feminist Technologies
Held at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea on 20 March 2019
This study day discussed feminism, female art practise and gender throughout collections, displays and exhibitions.
Seminar: Collecting Performance
Held at De Montfort University, Leicester on 30 January 2019
This seminar, held in partnership with the Art Fund at De Montfort University in Leicester, reassessed the status of collecting performance in museums today; examined a range of case studies and shared models of best practice; brought together curators working in public collections to better understand the appetite for collecting performance across the UK; as well as the challenges in collecting ephemeral practice.
Imperfect Pasts | Contested Futures: Working with public collections in the 21st Century
Held at Manchester Art Gallery on 21 November 2018
This study day explored the question of decolonisation in relation to art collections and museums, taking into account notions of history, colonialism, identity and community. It also investigated the role played by museums – through their acquisitions, exhibitions, partnerships and alliances – in grappling with this increasingly urgent task.
CPD Programme Study Day: The Art of Clay
Held at the Yorkshire Museum on 12 September 2018
Following the launch of the Jackson Tang Ceramics Award, this study day explored the art of clay as a hybrid, collaborative and interdisciplinary practice.
Annual Conference – The Virtual in Museums: Hot Medium?
Held at the National Gallery on 10 May 2018
The Contemporary Art Society’s 2018 Annual Conference explored the rapid development of digital imagery in the artistic realm and its representation in museums.